The stone toilet sits in Tel Lachish, a sprawling Iron Age city and the Kingdom of Judah's most important one after the capitol, Jerusalem. It was found in what the archaeologists believe to be a gate-shrine within Israel's largest ancient city gate. The ruler at that time, King Hezekiah, enacted campaigns of religious worship and reform that made their way into the Hebrew Bible on multiple occasions.

The stone toilet sits in Tel Lachish, a sprawling Iron Age city and the Kingdom of Judah's most important one after the capitol, Jerusalem. It was found in what the archaeologists believe to be a gate-shrine within Israel's largest ancient city gate. The ruler at that time, King Hezekiah, enacted campaigns of religious worship and reform that made their way into the Hebrew
Bible on multiple occasions.

Eh, people have always dumped on other people's religions. Style points to the Jews, though.

A conservator cleans the surface of the Edicule, the traditional site of Jesus' burial and resurrection, in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the Old City of Jerusalem. (Credit: Oded Balilty/ National Geographic via CNS.)

… In the fourth century, Constantine is said to have sent a team from Rome to the Holy Land in search of the site, and after the group believed they had located it, they tore down a pagan temple on top of it and protected the tomb.

Over the centuries, the structures above the tomb have been the victims of natural and human attacks. At some point, a marble slab was placed on top of the tomb, perhaps to prevent eager pilgrims from taking home pieces of it.

[…]

“Mortar sampled from between the original limestone surface of the tomb and a marble slab that covers it has been dated to around A.D. 345,” said National Geographic in a Nov. 28 news story. Until the results were revealed to National Geographic in late November by scientist and professor Antonia Moropoulou, who directed the restoration project, there was no scientific evidence to support that the tomb was older than 1,000 years, the story says.

What’s harder to pin down scientifically is evidence to prove that the person who was placed on the tomb’s limestone rock shelf and buried there was Jesus of Nazareth. However, a documentary set to air Dec. 3 on National Geographic‘s cable channel shows interviews with scholars who say oral history strongly supports the possibility that the location of the shrine is the place where Jesus is believed to have been buried, a place where Christians believe he returned to life. …

Found 100 meters from Jerusalem's Western Wall, the First Temple period sealing published in December 2017 bears an inscription stating, 'To the Governor of the City.' (Clara Amit, Israel Antiquities Authority)

Found in ongoing Western Wall plaza excavations, the minuscule clay piece is inscribed in ancient Hebrew script, 'To the governor of the city'

Past and present collided last week when an extremely rare seal impression discovered in Jerusalem’s Western Wall plaza and bearing the inscription “To the governor of the city” was presented to Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat.

According to site excavator Dr. Shlomit Weksler-Bdolah, “This is the first time that such an impression was found in an authorized excavation. It supports the biblical rendering of the existence of a governor of the city in Jerusalem 2,700 years ago.”

At the presentation, Barkat said, “It is very overwhelming to receive greetings from First Temple-period Jerusalem. This shows that already 2,700 years ago, Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, was a strong and central city.”

The minuscule clay seal impression, or docket, was found while researchers were examining the dust from a First Temple structure 100 meters northwest of the Western Wall at a site the Israel Antiquity Authorities has been excavating since 2005. The excavations have offered up insights into Jerusalem’s Second Temple and Roman periods, as well as a massive Iron Age four-room building where an eclectic collection of six other seals were uncovered, whose origins point to a thriving cosmopolitan Iron Age center or settlement.

“The seal impression had been attached to an important transport and served as some sort of logo, or as a tiny souvenir, which was sent on behalf of the governor of the city,” said Weksler-Bdolah in an IAA release.

Found 100 meters from Jerusalem's Western Wall, the First Temple period sealing published in December 2017 bears an inscription stating, 'To the Governor of the City.' (Clara Amit, Israel Antiquities Authority)

Found in ongoing Western Wall plaza excavations, the minuscule clay piece is inscribed in ancient Hebrew script, 'To the governor of the city'

Past and present collided last week when an extremely rare seal impression discovered in Jerusalem’s Western Wall plaza and bearing the inscription “To the governor of the city” was presented to Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat.

According to site excavator Dr. Shlomit Weksler-Bdolah, “This is the first time that such an impression was found in an authorized excavation. It supports the biblical rendering of the existence of a governor of the city in Jerusalem 2,700 years ago.”

At the presentation, Barkat said, “It is very overwhelming to receive greetings from First Temple-period Jerusalem. This shows that already 2,700 years ago, Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, was a strong and central city.”

The minuscule clay seal impression, or docket, was found while researchers were examining the dust from a First Temple structure 100 meters northwest of the Western Wall at a site the Israel Antiquity Authorities has been excavating since 2005. The excavations have offered up insights into Jerusalem’s Second Temple and Roman periods, as well as a massive Iron Age four-room building where an eclectic collection of six other seals were uncovered, whose origins point to a thriving cosmopolitan Iron Age center or settlement.

“The seal impression had been attached to an important transport and served as some sort of logo, or as a tiny souvenir, which was sent on behalf of the governor of the city,” said Weksler-Bdolah in an IAA release.

That's really interesting. The idea that it could be a drawing of the sky feels to me like a credible theory.

It's funny though, because we have so little idea of the motives behind so many ancient (for lack of a better term) "artwork", that this could be a map of the sky or just a drawing where some guy was like, "Aw crap..I drew the sun too high. Screw it, I'll put it here." Or maybe it was some sort of instruction about the movement of the sun. Or perhaps it was pure imagination, a fantasy world depicted with two suns. The point is we don't know.

But it made me laugh to read how the scientist first approached it:

“Our first argument was, there cannot be two suns,” Vahia said.

I don't know why but that strikes me as hilarious.

CPS: Boring since 21August2017!

"May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one" -Mal Reynolds

"Better to die cheerfully with the aid of a little tobacco, than to live disagreeably and remorseful without." -CS Lewis

That's really interesting. The idea that it could be a drawing of the sky feels to me like a credible theory.

It's funny though, because we have so little idea of the motives behind so many ancient (for lack of a better term) "artwork", that this could be a map of the sky or just a drawing where some guy was like, "Aw crap..I drew the sun too high. Screw it, I'll put it here." Or maybe it was some sort of instruction about the movement of the sun. Or perhaps it was pure imagination, a fantasy world depicted with two suns. The point is we don't know.

Greek Orthodox priests taking part in a procession inside the Katholikon, or Catholicon Chapel, in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. (Eddie Gerald / Alamy Stock Photo)

This reminder of centuries-old history was sitting in plain sight all along

[…]

A Greek team of engineers and architects recently restored the Aedicule, which had long been in danger of collapse. In the course of the effort, the construction crew used a crane to lift a two-ton block, referred to as the “graffiti stone” after visitors’ penchant for leaving their mark on it, into a steel cradle, turning it around in the process but relegating it to another dark corner.

Amit Re’em of the Israeli Antiquities Authority, who was monitoring the Aedicule work, spotted the newly revealed side of the limestone panel one day and was stunned by the intricate circles carved into the rock with traces of marble and the rich red stone called porphyry. “It is an exquisite piece of art,” he says. “And it was clear to me that the size of the stone and the unique decoration must be something special.”

Re’em, who specializes in medieval archaeology, immediately went to a Jerusalem library to look for evidence of other stones with similar decorations in order to pinpoint its origin. With the help of historian Ilya Berkovich at Munich’s Ludwig Maximillian University, he pieced together the stone’s strange odyssey, and what it might reveal about the Crusader era.

They discovered that Greek archaeologists in 1969 began excavating in the nave and under the main altar east of the Aedicule, areas that remain in the hands of the Greek Orthodox clergy. Though the results were never made public, a curious Catholic priest reported that the team found Crusader-era remains. Some were covered up, but others, including the rectangular panel examined by Re’em, were removed so that the researchers could access material from the earlier Byzantine era.

Re’em and Berkovich tracked the geometric pattern on the stone’s design to a style popular in Rome in the 12th century. The use of four circles surrounding a central circle, all richly inlaid, was the trademark design of the Cosmati family, Roman artisans who worked for the pope. The stone’s design “symbolized the power, both temporal and spiritual, that the Papacy achieved during the 12th century,” writes art historian and New York architect Paloma Pajares-Ayuela in the definitive book on the style. That suggested the stone was carved and inlaid when the Crusaders rebuilt the church.

“I think that this exquisite piece of art could be evidence for the papal artistic patronage in the church,” Re’em says. “It is proof that Crusader art was highly developed” and reflects the direct influence of Rome on the distant Jerusalem shrine. Most of the Crusader knights were French and German, and there are few contemporary reports detailing the 12th-century reconstruction of the church. The stone panel, he added, suggests that papal craftsmen may have been directly involved in the work.

A stunning article published Thursday announced that archaeologists have stumbled upon the first physical evidence of the existence of the prophet Isaiah.

If you asked people whom their favorite biblical prophet is, there’s a strong chance they would answer Isaiah. Sure, Moses gets all the accolades, received the tablets, and is the most important; but Isaiah is the prophetic book most quoted by authors of the New Testament. For Christians, Isaiah predicts the coming of the Messiah, the death of Jesus and the Virgin Birth. So, it is particularly auspicious that in a stunning article published today in Biblical Archaeology Review archaeologists announced that they have stumbled upon the first physical evidence for the existence of the prophet Isaiah.

The evidence itself comes in the form of a small piece of clay (an impression left by a seal), a mere 0.4 inches long, which appears to bear the inscription “Isaiah the prophet.” It was unearthed as part of excavations of a previously undisturbed pile of debris at the Ophel excavation in Jerusalem. The dig is headed by Eliat Mazar who provides a description of the discovery, significance, and translation of the seal in an article published in this month’s issue of BAR. The debris contained figurines, pottery fragments, pieces of ivory and some clay seal impressions, known as bullae. These impressions were created when the owners of the seals stamped their seals into the soft clay and include the mark of King Hezekiah, previously reported here at The Daily Beast.

According to Mazar, “alongside the bullae of Hezekiah… [were] 22 additional bullae… among these is the bulla of “Yesha‘yah[u​] Nvy[?]” which is most straightforwardly translated as “Isaiah the Prophet.” Given the importance of Isaiah to religious history, this seal impression is of great significance to Jews and Christians alike.